OCALA — The emergency department at Munroe Regional Medical Center is undergoing some major changes to meet patient needs and compete with quick treatment offered at emergency care clinics.

Most of the changes are aimed at improving emergency service for patients and will not require a large capital expenditure, said Stephen LaGrone, the hospital's planning and marketing director. The emergency department changes are expected to be completed by mid-October.

Munroe Regional is the only hospital in Marion County that has a full- service 24-hour emergency department, LaGrone said.

Hospital officials hope to improve convenience and comfort of emergency patients and their families by restructuring the registration and treatment system to provide more rapid and individualized care, LaGrone said.

The hospital, a non-profit corporation, conducted a marketing campaign of local residents in December 1984 to determine what changes were needed, he said. Many residents said they wanted more rapid treatment.

''We have really been planning this for a long time,'' he said. The emergency department changes will allow the hospital to compete with private emergency clinics, where many local residents go for treatment, he said.

Work started last summer and will be completed about the same time as National Emergency Medical Services Week, which ends Saturday. More than 45,000 people a year use the hospital's emergency department, LaGrone said.

Changes include general remodeling of the emergency department, a centralized area where a registered nurse will evaluate and assign priorities to all patients, a new X-ray room, a central location for critical care rooms for trauma cases, a remodeled waiting area and a private room for families.

Interior renovation work has been done by the hospital's maintenance staff and did not require the hiring of subcontractors, LaGrone said.

The hospital also has hired a new company to handle physician services in the emergency department. Munroe Regional has awarded a one-year contract to EmCare Corporation, a Dallas company that will coordinate emergency department physicians starting today.

Several of the current emergency department physicians will remain and become employees of EmCare. Two physicians will be scheduled during peak activity hours in the emergency department, a major change to be implemented through EmCare.